Gene expression profiles in anatomically and functionally distinct regions of the normal aged human brain

1 Neurogenomics Division, Translational Genomics Research Institute, Phoenix 2 Sun Health Research Institute, Sun City 3 Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Arizona 4 National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center, Seattle, Washington 5 Washington University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, St. Louis, Missouri 6 Duke University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Durham, North Carolina 7 Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe 8 Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium, Phoenix 9 Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, Phoenix, Arizona In this article, we have characterized and compared gene expression profiles from laser capture microdissected neurons in six functionally and anatomically distinct regions from clinically and histopathologically normal aged human brains. These regions, which are also known to be differentially vulnerable to the histopathological and metabolic features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), include the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus (limbic and paralimbic areas vulnerable to early neurofibrillary tangle pathology in AD), posterior cingulate cortex (a paralimbic area vulnerable to early metabolic abnormalities in AD), temporal and prefrontal cortex (unimodal and heteromodal sensory association areas vulnerable to early neuritic plaque pathology in AD), and primary visual cortex (a primary sensory area relatively spared in early AD). These neuronal profiles will provide valuable reference information for future studies of the brain, in normal aging, AD and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. Alzheimer’s disease; laser capture microdissection; Affymetrix microarrays; expression profiling; neuron; transcriptomics